JP News

YuCount Newsletter JANUARY 2020

2020 JANUARY YUCOUNT NEWSLETTER

Post Date:01/02/2020 3:40 PM

*|MC:SUBJECT|**|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

Greetings and Happy New Year!
I hope the new year is off to a great start for you. We have a lot of accomplishments to celebrate in Yuma County looking back over 2019, and a lot of opportunities to look forward to in 2020.

You may have noticed the sky beginning to get light a little earlier over the past couple of weeks. The shortest day of the year (Winter Solstice) was December 21, so we will see our days getting longer and longer until next June 20, the Summer Solstice. I for one enjoy our Yuma sunshine! Even though the past couple of weeks have been a bit gloomy, Yuma County has once again ranked as the sunniest place on the planet. The latest numbers come from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), based on 42 years of records. According to NOAA, Yuma County sees 4,015.3 hours of sunlight per year, which means that 90% of the year Yuma’s days are sunny. Its closest contenders reside near the equator like Bogota, Columbia, and Nairobi, Kenya, and they only see about half the sunny hours that Yuma County does.

January kicks off the County’s annual budget process. The Office of Management and Budget has begun training all departments on procedures and any changes to the process for FY20-21. The deadline for any requests for market studies, grade adjustments and re-classifications for positions has passed. Departments with these requests have been working with Human Resources to gather the information needed for those analyses.

Departmental baseline budgets are due January 10, and Capital Improvement Project (CIP) requests are due January 21. The Board of Supervisors Annual Budget Retreat will be held on February 10. During the Retreat we review national, state and local economic conditions, federal and state requirements that impact the county’s operations and expenses, and priorities that the Board sets for the coming year. Stay tuned as we formulate the budget for the next fiscal year.

We will celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday with a holiday on Monday, January 20. I hope you enjoy the long MLK weekend! If you are working during the holiday – Thank You. I appreciate your sacrifice so the rest of us can enjoy the time off.

Thank you for what you do each and every day to serve our community and each other. I appreciate your dedication and hard work on behalf of Yuma County!

This organization represents the corrections industry in the United States and Canada and its main purpose is to reduce recidivism to keep communities safe.

Click on the video to hear what Tim Hardy had to say about his new duty as President.

QUARTERLY SAFETY AWARD WINNER
Fourth Quarter Safety Award Winner is Steve Bañuelos, an employee of the Juvenile Detention Center for over seventeen years.

Mr. Bañuelos was nominated for de-escalating a situation by implementing a restraining technique on a juvenile without any injuries.

TREE RECYCLINGYuma County Public Works and the City of Yuma have joined together again to help preserve the Yuma Wetlands Park. You can assist by taking your Christmas tree to a recycling location near you.

Click on the video to check the times and locations for free tree recycling.

YUMA COUNTY PLANNING AND ZONING DIVISION
It is the responsibility of the Planning and Zoning Department to implement the Comprehensive Plan, Subdivision Regulations, Zoning Ordinances and Policies in Yuma County.

Comprehensive Plan-Guide for potential growth in County planning.
Subdivision Regulations-Enforce development in Yuma County subdivisions.
Planning and Zoning-Controls development of the County in separate divisions.

For more than twenty years, Yuma County Adult Probation has teamed up with the Arizona Children’s Association (AZCA) to help make the holidays brighter for foster children and orphans throughout Yuma County. Our “Lead Angel,” who is also a Surveillance Officer for Adult Probation, Claudia Altamirano, is the self-appointed liaison between our two agencies. Each year in November, Officer Altamirano contacts AZCA to request a group of pseudo names with gender, age, and a “wish list” for a selected number of children, ages ranging from new-born to eighteen.

This year, the information was printed on a snowflake and Officer Altamirano posted the snowflakes in her work station for Adult Probation staff to select. Staff can take lists for as many children as they like and often take two or more. The children's wish lists include clothing (with sizes) and small toys or gift cards for each child. On December 10th, AZCA came to Adult Probation to pick up the gifts and will be delivering them to their destinations. For many of these children, the gifts have been the only presents they received this Christmas. It is a great honor to report that because of Officer Altamirano’s dedication and the generosity of our staff, this year, Adult Probation fulfilled the wishes of thirty angels.

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS
We hope everyone enjoyed a safe and happy holiday season! Here at Yuma County Adult Probation, we celebrated our blessings with good food, fun games, and the company of great people!

On December 3, 2019, we enjoyed our staff Christmas party at the Yuma County fairgrounds. The food consisted of pizza and pasta catered by Da Boyz Italian restaurant and of course, we had plenty of pies, cookies, pastries, and hot chocolate provided by staff and our internal Booster Club. Rest assured, folks, that tax dollars were not involved. These events are funded through fundraisers coordinated by our Booster Club members throughout the year.

On Friday, December 13, 2019, Adult Probation and North End Community Connections Clinic enjoyed an integrated lunch that consisted of hamburgers and hotdogs with all the trimmings! Most of the cooking was done by our Interim Chief Adult Probation Officer Mike Byrd with occasional assistance from other staff.

•Capricorn (December 22 - January 19) and Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) are the zodiac signs for the month of January.

•Did you know? - January is National Blood Donor month, National Soup Month, National Hobby Month, National Staying Healthy Month and National Braille Literacy Month

JANUARY 2020 PAYROLL POST

The 2020 Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Certificate is very different from previous versions. This is due to the federal tax law changes that took place in 2018. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is not requiring all employees to complete the revised form and has designed the withholding tables so that they will work with both the new and prior-year forms. However, certain employees will be required to use the new form: those hired in 2020 and anyone who makes withholding changes during 2020.

Even though the IRS does not require all employees to complete the revised form and even if your tax situation has not changed, we recommend you perform a “paycheck checkup” to see if you need to make adjustments to your current withholding. To conduct the checkup, you can use the IRS’s Tax Withholding Estimator (www.irs.gov/W4App). To effectively use the estimator, it is helpful to have a copy of your most recent pay stub and tax return. It is likely that the estimator will be updated to account for the 2020 tax tables in early January. Please note: if you do not submit a new form, withholding will continue based on your previously submitted form.

Before completing the 2020 Form W-4, please read the instructions that are included with the form. You must complete Steps 1 and 5. Steps 2, 3, and 4 need only be completed if they apply to your situation, and will help ensure that your federal income tax withholding will more accurately match your tax liability. Step 1 is for your personal information; Step 2 is for households with multiple jobs; Step 3 is used to claim tax credits for dependents; Step 4 is for other adjustments (additional income such as interest and dividends, itemized deductions that exceed the standard deduction, and extra tax you want withheld); and Step 5 is where you sign the form.

The IRS takes your privacy seriously and suggests that, if you are worried about reporting income from multiple jobs in Step 2 or other income in Step 4(a), you check the box in Step 2(c) or enter an additional withholding amount in Step 4(c). To determine the additional withholding amount, you can use the withholding estimator.

***Note: Existing employees are NOT required to complete a new W-4 for 2020 unless their circumstances have changed, but may find it will result in more accurate tax withholding to meet their tax liability for 2020.

ROLDAN NAMED YUMA COUNTY HOUSING DIRECTOR

Jesus Roldan has been appointed as the new Yuma County Housing Director. The announcement was made on December 18, 2019, and it comes after an extensive national search beginning in March 2019 after Gloria Mallek retired in late February.

"Yuma County Housing plays an integral role ensuring that residents have access to safe and affordable housing," explains Susan Thorpe, Yuma County Administrator. "Mr. Roldan will be an excellent Director and I'm excited to welcome him to this new role."

Roldan has been serving in the role of Interim Director for Yuma County’s Housing Department for the last 10 months, where he has served as Deputy Director since September 2017 and Senior Program Coordinator from August 2016 to September 2017. He began his career in the Housing Industry as a Program Manager/Coordinator for the Housing Authority, City of Yuma. With experience in Public Housing, Section 8 Housing Voucher Programs, Family Self-Sufficiency, and Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency programs, Roldan will serve as an effective leader of an overall housing strategy for the Yuma County community.

"I am excited about joining Yuma County's talented executive team and look forward to working with community partners, with whom I have already fostered great relationships, to provide vulnerable individuals and families in Yuma County with a place to call home,” said Roldan.

2019-2020 LIFE PREGNANCY CENTER & YUMA COUNTY DIAPER & FORMULA DRIVE
Beginning Tuesday, December 24, 2019, through January 24, 2020, New Life Pregnancy Center & Yuma County have an opportunity to help the less fortunate during the holiday season. New Life Pregnancy is a nonprofit agency that offers free services to the community. Donations are one of its main resources. Diapers and baby formula is the current need. Join us in making a difference by donating diapers and formula to help a parent in need.

We challenge each department/office to participate to help our community and parents in need. The department/office with the largest donations will win a wellness incentive. Please drop off your donations to Human Resources by Friday, January 24, 2020, at 198 S Main Street by 3:00 pm.

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH-JANUARY 2020
Brenda Cervantes, Library Assistant I Youth Services (Yuma County Main Library), has been chosen as the Yuma County Library District’s Employee of the Month for January 2020. This award is to recognize an employee who inspires us with their effort and attitude. Brenda received a mounted certificate, a nameplate in the book of her choice, an Employee of the Month pin, and her photo will be hung at the Yuma County Main Library during the month of January.Congratulations Brenda!

SAY "HOLA" TO PONGALO!

YCLD, in partnership with RBdigital, now offers unlimited streaming access to Pongalo, the largest collection of Spanish-language telenovelas and translated movies streamed on-demand!

With Pongalo, you can enjoy:
• Over 13,000 hours of translated Hollywood movies
• Over 10,000 episodes of telenovelas and TV series
• Plus original programming and exclusive content

Sign in or create a free RBdigital account, and you’ll be able to stream Pongalo on your computer or mobile device.

On April 2, 1956, the Yuma County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution whereas by an Act of Congress, approved on May 17, 1950, Public Law 516, authorized the construction of a project for the Painted Rock Reservoir in the Gila River Basin, Arizona, substantially in accordance with the recommendation of the Chief of Engineers in House Document Numbered 331, 81st Congress. Before any expenditures could be made for the construction, Yuma and Maricopa Counties would furnish satisfactory assurances to the Secretary of the Army to adjust all water-right claims that may result from the improvement. By adoption of the resolution, Yuma County agreed to indemnify and hold harmless the County of Maricopa as to any loss it might suffer from that county’s responsibility to adjust any water-rights claims in the channel of the Gila River below the Painted Rock Dam. Board members were: G. H. Strohm (Chairman), M. G. Miniken, and Otis Shipp.